In addition to spending quality time with my wonderful wife Rebecca and my twin sons Luke and Jack (23 weeks old), I read a dozen books on leadership and watched numerous DVDs and YouTube clips on performance enhancement. I combed through notebooks of my own notes and took time to reflect and evaluate my entire program.Most importantly, I developed my plan for this coming pre-season.

And I have never been so excited!

During my reflection period, I decided to make a fundamental change to my blog. My posts are going to be much more concise. I realized that some folks had to take a day off from work to read some of my lengthy blogs!I will make each post helpful, insightful, and impactful… just with fewer words.

Enough said.

A couple of weeks ago a colleague of mine, Nick Tumminelo (a brilliant trainer in Baltimore and owner of Performance University), posted this on his Facebook page:

I couldn’t agree more.This concept is so applicable to your pre-season training program because it lays the foundation for your success this season. Picture a pyramid. A wide base (foundation) yields a higher peak. Your strength & conditioning foundation gives you the ability to perform your basketball skills at a higher level, perform them with more efficiency, and perform them for the entire game (without letting fatigue play a factor).

That is why the best players and the best teams are in the best shape!

I am certainly a staunch believer in working hard. Intensity and consistency are the keys to success in anything… especially training.But you have to be working towards something to make it effective. You have to have a plan. You have to have goals. You have to make progress towards those goals every workout.

Working out just to workout, with no direction, will give you mediocre results at best. Puddles of sweat and aching muscles are only valuable if they are taking you closer to where you are trying to go.

Don’t just work hard. Work smart.

On that note, getting stronger and more explosive is important for basketball.But nothing is more essential than moving efficiently on the court.Here are a variety of drills I use with my players on a daily basis to promote proper footwork, jumping/landing mechanics, as well as strengthen and increase the functional mobility of the ankles and feet:

PS: I just released an 8 Week Pre-Season Strength & Conditioning Program download at http://Shop.StrongerTeam.com. It includes everything you need to get stronger, more explosive, and in sick basketball shape. This program is the difference between training and working out!